Ethiopia has begun generating electricity at its new 5,000-MW roller-compacted concrete gravity-type dam on the Nile River. The first 375 MW went to the national grid on Feb. 20.
French engineering, design and project management firm Artelia has been picked to replace Deltares—an independent Dutch institute for applied research in water and subsurface—in a contract to study the impact of the $4 billion Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the flow of the Nile River.
Investigating safety concerns posed by the $4.8-billion Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, a joint committee comprising representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, among others, recently made its last trip to the hydropower-plant site before compiling its report.
Kenya and landlocked South Sudan have signed a $1.5-billion deal for the construction of a new 1,260-kilometer oil pipeline linking Juba and the Indian Ocean port town of Lamu, where the former country has launched a multibillion port expansion plan that includes an oil refinery with a capacity 120,000 barrels per day, or bpd.
